Indiana Pacers fell down huge early to the Toronto Raptors, but did make a game out of it. For awhile anyway.
The Good: The Indiana Pacers fought. This team has rolled over so many times this year amid less intense pressure from inferior opponents. So it was nice to see them battle back after falling down 18. It really was a game. And Paul George’s (second straight) fireworks display in the third quarter threatened to give the Pacer a good shot at going home up 2-0. The Raptors weren’t having it, of course, and stayed solid while never really letting Indiana get back in control.
Then the Pacers, down 8 with 12 minutes to play, went with an all-bench unit to start the fourth and folded like a 2-7 off suit. It was unfortunate that Frank Vogel had enough faith in his reserves to leave them out there so long. The NBA Twitterati, and Pacers fans alike, were calling for a change on social media in real time. Please just insert Monta with this lineup, they begged. Or even George Hill.
Vogel is nothing if not optimistic and faithful, however. And he has seen Rodney Stuckey and C.J. Miles go on scoring tears. At the worst, he has seen them hold the fort and figured he could get 4 minutes of rest for the first team. He was wrong.
The Kyle-Lowry-and-bench unit for Toronto dug in and scored on the Pacers backups like it was a video game. By the time Vogel went back to the starters, it was too late. They fell down even further, back to 18, and it was all over but the garbage time that saw Joe Young get his first-ever playoff hoop.
The Bad: The opening. As much as you can second guess Vogel’s faith in his reserves (Paul George, for one, was absolutely gassed and needed some rest), it was his starters who lost this game. They had no answer for Jonas Valanciunas in the paint, as Kyle Lowry-led pick-and-rolls exposed and decimated the Pacers defense again and again. They were beyond awful in all respects, and the intensity from Toronto was just overwhelming.
You have to credit the Raptors here. They were running these sets to perfection, and their defensive execution led to, at least, 8 straight Pacers misses at one point. That wasn’t just bad Indiana offense. The Raptors won 56 games this year and were out to prove their mettle on their home floor.
The opening salvo that put the Canadian crew up 18 was 50% Toronto execution, 30% Raptors intensity, and 20% bad Pacers basketball. Tip your cap. They busted Indiana’s ass.
MVP: Jonas Valanciunas. He was legend, gobbling up everything in the paint and not letting the Pacers take a second off or miss a single rotation. He won this game in the first five minutes.
LVP: C.J. Miles. What happened to you, homie?
X-Factor: Cory Joseph. The Pacers got nothing from their bench outside of sixth starter Myles Turner, while Canadian hero Cory Joseph (and Patrick Patterson) came to play for real for real.